At 6'10, Warnke and his brother Wally were ineligible for the military draft (Wally eventually was permitted to enlist). They both followed their Michigan City High School Loren Ellis when Ellis took the head coaching job at Valpo.
Warnke coached basketball for a season at Valpo, where he was also the baseball coach.

Died of a heart attack in 1970 shortly after his 50th birthday.

Some sources say he also went to college at St Mary's in Texas, and Washington State, but I see no evidence of that.